My Special Sweet Salsa

Hello tender friends!

It’s a sweltering 93 degrees today here in Southwest Virginia and will be 97 degrees tomorrow. Fortunately my fresh batch of salsa has been sitting in the fridge all night, ready to cool me down!

Our cilantro didn’t do anything this year, so the cilantro, red onion and lime are store bought, but everything else is from the garden. And if you read about my secret tomato sauce recipe, you won’t be surprised to find that I use the same secret in this.

These are the ingredients I use (I personally skipped the canned tomatoes that some people swear by for consistency because I don’t find that it helps the flavor and I don’t really like the consistency myself. Plus we harvest about $100 worth of tomatoes these days, and I just can’t bear the thought of spending any money on a tomato product when we have so much):

Roma tomatoes

Onion (I use red and white)

Green bell pepper- I go heavy on bell peppers because I enjoy the crunch

Jalapeño peppers

Habanero peppers – These are spicy, but only in a mild way if you take out the seeds and the pith because that’s where most of the spice is. It has a fruity flavor that really jazzes up a salsa.

Fresh garlic

Minced garlic

salt

pepper

lime

Sun gold tomatoes – I promise you that you will not miss the sugar if you use this tomato!

Here’s where my recipe differs from what you may have seen on other websites. I don’t like a watery salsa, so I put these ingredients together in a strainer and mix with a teaspoon of salt to let a lot of the water drain out. This is the same trick I use with my squash.

This results in a more concentrated flavor. This residue is kind of sticky though, so I dump it outside after it’s drained out rather than down the sink. I then put my salsa mix into the blender on the pulse setting, only lightly blending because I don’t want a mushy mess.

As for chips, I occasionally indulge in dipping some organic, grain-free chips into this salsa. I don’t advocate for eating any kind of processed food, but sometimes this really hits the spot in the high heat. And I confess, I ate some today! It’s just so hot that I can’t stand over the stove! Like I said, I don’t advocate for any sort of processed foods and we rarely eat them because they just don’t have any nutritional value, but I also don’t want to be disingenuous. Sometimes on really hot days I need to eat something to keep myself going and crave the salty crunch of a chip.

Otherwise, I use sliced cucumbers or a sharp cheese as a vehicle for eating this salsa. I just drop a teaspoon of salsa on top and use the cucumber or cheese like a cracker. If you have any ideas for other vehicles for the salsa, please let me know! I’m always looking to expand on my repertoire of cracker or chip alternatives.

That’s all for today, tender friends! I hope that you’re beating the heat wherever you are. Thank you for stopping by! I’ll be sharing my post on being your best self on Monday and another food post on Thursday!

Thank you for sharing!

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